One of the world's biggest miners just had its best ever day

A
truck driver walks past a giant mining truck at the largest open
pit gold mine in Australia, called the Fimiston Open Pit, also
known as the Super Pit, in the gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie,
located around 500 kilometres east of Perth July 27,
2001.Reuters

Anglo American just had its best day ever, as mining companies
listed in Britain smashed higher, after a rare strong day overall
for the commodities industry.

The FTSE 350 Mining Index, which tracks the performance of
the UK's biggest listed mining and commodity firms closed the day
up by more than 11%, and saw its biggest single day
gain in six years, with individual stocks rising as much as
20%.

Glencore's surge on Thursday was nothing in comparison to
that of Anglo American, the world's biggest platinum. Shares in
the miner soared by as much as 25% on the day, before finishing
up by 19.7%, the best single day performance in its history.
Here's how that looked:

Anglo and Glencore weren't the only miners to pop however, and
shares in all five of the FTSE's biggest mining firms jumped by
more than 10%. Here's the scoreboard:

Antofagasta — up 14.56%

BHP Billiton — up 10.79%

Rio Tinto — up 10.27%

Fresnillo — up 8.59%

Vedanta Resources — up 9.22%

Randgold Resources — up 3.13%

The mining sector's massive surge on Thursday was driven by a big
rebound in the price of metals, thanks to a bounce in the price
of oil, and the continuing dip that the dollar is undergoing
right now. Metals across the board saw big gains, with gold up
more than 1.15%, passing the $1,150 per ounce mark. Platinum, one
of Anglo American's biggest markets, jumped 2.5% on the day.

This morning, with the massive rally in its early stages,
Mike van Dulken Head of Research at Accendo Markets, said
(emphasis ours):

Retail investors are rushing
back intoFTSE 100
miners, jumping on
momentum from a weak USD inspired by hopes the Fed dials
back on its hawkish trajectory for US rate rises. Gains
may be despite little change on the commodity supply glut front,
however, it would appear that an increasing faction views
the sector as having seen the worst, on its way back
from oversold and on the right track in terms of painful measures
to correct structural issues.

Overall, the FTSE 100 ended the day up 1.05% to close at
5,898 points, with pharma giant AstraZeneca and Imperial Tobacco
propping up the index. Across the rest of Europe, it was a mixed
bag, with most major indexes in the green, but some seeing small
losses. Here's the scoreboard: